Color My World
by Circean13
Summary: The young Hatake Kakashi has never had anything strange happen in his life. Nothing was of excitement until the day he met Rin. Now Kakashi's world is turning upside down and everything is different. What is he going to do with this new person in his life?
1. Pink

**_Author's Notes: Hello! I am excited to get this story up here finally. It is a work in progress and I hope I can get my concept across as clearly as possible. Please please tell me what you think!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. This story is mainly for my own amusement._**

* * *

_I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast.  
I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life__- but there was no one to tell me.  
~George Washington Carver_

**Chapter 1- Pink**

Kakashi never knew what he was missing in life. The world seemed perfectly normal to him. The grass, the sky, the village, the people. They were all a part of one big scene playing out on a dull stage around him. Maybe he was the lead actor? Maybe he was the audience?

Did he really care?

Not really.

Today he was on his way to the market to pick up a few things for the house. With no mother around—she was dead after all—and a father who was almost constantly away on missions, it fell to Kakashi to pick up food and other necessities. At least his father would leave a list; a list that Kakashi sometimes secretly added to just to get what he wanted.

A group of kids ran by. Kakashi watched them until they disappeared around the corner of a shop. They couldn't have been more than seven or eight. They were a little under his age, but they were definitely village kids, not ninjas.

Kakashi puffed out his chest in pride. He had passed the Academy in a year at the age of five and was already a chuunin. Beat that society! In fact, the village considered him one of the best upcoming prodigies in years—after Minato Namikaze of course, but that was a different story.

The young chuunin stopped in thought and let a hand stray to the wall next to him. Maybe after his errands he would go to the training grounds. That was a logical endeavor for a growing prodigy.

The slap of scandals hitting the ground caught his attention. Kakashi merely glanced in the direction of the sound. A young girl was running down the street. She was clearly out of breath and had somewhere urgent to be. He wouldn't have minded about it too much, but when the girl's shoe caught on the uneven ground and she tottered forward, he had to move.

Kakashi sprang into action, letting his ninja instincts act. He swung an arm around the girl's waist and spun her around delicately so she was facing the sky. As if he would let go, the girl snatched at his shirt as she came to a halt safely in the crook of Kakashi's arm.

"Are you… all right?" Kakashi ventured as she glanced around almost bewildered for a few seconds.

Then something happened. The girl's face changed. He couldn't describe it as she pushed him away and patted dust from her skirt. It wasn't like her eyes had disfigured or that her mouth suddenly had sharp fangs. She was just… different. It was across her cheeks, he concluded. The change was certainly still there.

The girl cleared her throat, "Thank you… I um, need to get going.. I'm almost late for class."

"Class?" Kakashi ventured. She looked about his age, maybe a little younger.

"Yes," she said with a smile, "I'm going to graduate from the Academy this year!"

Kakashi mulled that information over.

"Not if you're late."

"Well I— ah!" the girl spun on her heels and took off down the street again, "I'm sorry we can talk later! My name is Rin! Nohara Rin!"

Kakashi waved slowly as her figure retreated into the distance. What exactly had just happened? The young chuunin glanced around the area. Nothing else was changing in that weird way. He continued on the road to the market debating if he had just imagined the weird shift of gray across the girl's—no Rin's—face. It didn't seem right.

Suddenly, something caught his eye by a flower shop. It was the _same_ thing that had been on Rin's face. Kakashi walked over to the tulip as if it was some ghastly fascinating science experiment. If he squinted his eyes just enough, the thing stopped wavering. He poked the strange tulip just not getting it. Had Rin done something to his vision? Was she actually a spy in the village that had put some sort of weird genjutsu on him? It didn't seem likely, but he had heard far worse scenarios throughout the Third War happening.

He would definitely keep an eye on Rin. She was too suspicious now.

"Hey," a gruff voice knocked Kakashi out of his thoughts. The flower shop lady had come out and was staring at him with disdain, "Stop standing there gawking. You never seen a tulip before?"

"I—" Kakashi couldn't get any farther.

"You either buy something or get lost kid," the lady commented.

Kakashi would have taken the second choice in a heartbeat any other time but this… this was_ intriguing_. He needed to see what else this strangely changed tulip could do.

"I'll buy this," he replied as he picked the tulip from its vase full of companions. None of the other buds were different, just this one. Maybe he could figure this out.

* * *

It was a long day as Kakashi finished up the chores and cleaned around the apartment house. Hopefully his father would be back soon. Kakashi really didn't want to start the laundry that was piling up. As brave and smart as he was, taking one step toward the growing pile of dirty clothing sent shivers up his spine. How did his mother—and women in general—cope with such a distasteful task?

Kakashi didn't mind the other tasks though. He kept one eye on the tulip he'd purchased; it was currently sitting in a bowl of water by the sink. There weren't any vases in the house and Kakashi hadn't thought about it at the time. Maybe he should go pick one up too.

The flower hadn't changed at all. The same… strangeness was there throughout the day. He still couldn't understand it.

So when the clock finally rolled around to when the Academy was letting its students go for the day, Kakashi swiped the bright tulip from its deficient dish and set out to find Rin.

When the chuunin finally found the girl he was looking for, he realized talking to her alone might prove difficult. Rin was walking home alongside Kurenai and a very egotistical Anko. He wasn't worried about the first one, but the second one could be very hard to handle if she got fired up.

He crouched on a tree branch overlooking the street and watched the three girls as they passed below.

"Aw come on!" Rin was pouting about something.

"Tch, the garden?" Anko spoke up as she took long strides to keep up with the other girls, "That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

Kurenai merely smiled. Aw dear Kurenai. A soft spoken lady that was as smart as she would be deadly one day. She should be graduating from the Academy this year. At least, Kakashi hoped. Then maybe he could lobby for her to be placed on his team.

"What are you going to do?" Kurenai finally replied, countering Anko's comment.

"Me? I'm gonna go hang out with Orochimaru and get stronger, of course," Anko responded with a grin.

Kakashi noted the slight worry that crossed Rin's face before it disappeared. He had to agree with her doubts about the older jounin. There was something about him that didn't seem right to Kakashi. He gave the creeps to everyone around him when they were at meetings or when he would show up at the training grounds unexpectedly. He was not right in the head or something.

Kurenai suddenly stopped. _Busted._ Kakashi gave a small sigh as Kurenai turned around and—her eyes were the same strangeness!—her gaze landed on him. "Kakashi? I knew someone was lurking around… I didn't think it would be you of all people."

The other two girls looked up. Rin took a step back obviously recognizing him from earlier. "What're you doin' up there ya creep?" Anko spat out.

Kakashi slipped off the tree branch and landed lightly on the pavement. He took a moment to straighten up his clothing. The tulip was still safely tucked into his jacket.

"Watcha got there~?" Anko pressed. It was like an interrogation already. "Gonna get all smooth and sly on a bunch of girls like us?"

"No no," Kakashi replied, but Anko would hear none of it.

"You think you're all that, don't ya?!" she continued.

"Anko stop."

Kakashi was mildly surprised when Rin stepped in to handle the wild girl. He was even more stunned when she walked over to him and waved the whole situation off like some forgotten appointment she just remembered.

"I gotta go guys," Rin said cheerily, "I forgot I had a meeting today."

"With him?" Anko glowered back.

"Yea," Rin replied awkwardly. She glanced at Kakashi for help, "Sorry."

Kakashi wasn't sure why Kurenai was smirking. He only needed to talk to Rin. He didn't need to get involved with a bunch of silly ideas of dating or whatever women thought.

"All right," Kurenai said, "just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"What? Are you serious? Nothing ever happens when we do it your way!" Anko replied.

Kurenai crossed her arms at that. She pursed her lips indignantly, "Fine then. Don't do whatever Anko would do. See you later." With that, Kurenai continued down the street as if nothing strange had happened.

"Hey!" Anko called chasing after the dark haired girl, "That was cruel!"

"It is true Anko."

"No it isn't!"

Kakashi waited until the girls were out of sight before opening his mouth. Rin cut across his train of thought, "What do you want?"

_Might as well get straight to the point._

"This," Kakashi stated taking the tulip from his jacket and nonchalantly shoving the flower in Rin's face.

"It's a flower," Rin replied. She looked confused and… what was that? Defensive?

"Yes," Kakashi huffed. How could he explain this... this whatever had happened? "It's different."

"It looks like a regular tulip to me," Rin shrugged, "…You're not asking me out or anything are you?"

"_No_," Kakashi didn't know what to do as he rubbed circles into his temples. This was going to be one massive headache soon. "I mean…" he held the tulip out again and pointed at it. "This. It's…" He moved his finger to indicate the whole weird change that had taken place that he couldn't explain.

"Iiittt'sss…" Rin's head made a circular motion trying to draw more words from him. She obviously wasn't going to get an answer from him because Kakashi _didn't know_. Finally she gave up and sighed, "What? _Pink?_ Is it too girly or something?"

"Pink?"

What the hell was pink? That word was new to him. Maybe she really was a spy after all.

"Yea… _pink_," she was staring at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

So the weirdness was "pink." Kakashi looked at the tulip closely again. At least he had a name for it now.

Rin crossed her arms with a contemplative expression. Kakashi wasn't sure what else to say. This "pink" didn't seem harmful. He hadn't been hurt by it yet. And Rin wasn't running in the other direction either. That was a good sign that it _wasn't_ dangerous.

"…I've never seen it before," Kakashi ventured at last.

"What?" Rin's eyebrows knitted together in a fine line, "How have you never seen…" She hesitated as Kakashi gave her a very serious look, "You've really never seen pink before?"

Was this a trick question? Kakashi gave her a guarded look, "No…"

"No blues or greens or yellows? Nothing?"

Now she was just speaking foreign words to him. His expression must have slipped because Rin reacted immediately, "Holy crap! You really don't know what I'm talking about!?" She threw her hands up in mock distress before turning around. "How did you even pass the Academy?!"

"Excuse me?" Kakashi butted into her rambling. Okay, now he just wanted an explanation. He had passed the Academy with top marks at the age of five! How could she doubt his growing skills as a shinobi?! "_What _are you talking about?"

"Come with me," Rin snapped as she turned to face him and seized his wrist. Kakashi was about to counter her move when a thought struck him. Maybe the answers he sought weren't as simple as he first imagined.

He let Rin drag him down the sidewalk. They didn't stop until they were on the same street as earlier with the flower shop. Kakashi frowned. Going back to the scene of the change? How would this help exactly?

Rin stopped in front of the window of flower displays. She pointed at the nearest vase and asked, "What color are those?"

"What is color?" Kakashi shot back as he eyed the tiny daisies. Were they playing some interrogation game now?

"Those are yellow," Rin stated calmly, "Yellow is a color."

Kakashi waited for more.

Rin frowned at him, "You really aren't joking are you?"

Kakashi reflected her expression, "Joking about what?"

"Everyone sees color!" she responded. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as she stuttered through her words, "Color is like… like a part of _everything_. It gives objects s-substance and and… wow, you really don't know."

Kakashi again noticed the slight change of Rin's cheeks. The "pink" was there again. So did it happen randomly or was it always there under the surface of the skin? Did he have the "pink" in him too? He was starting to believe Rin wasn't a spy. But this concept of… _color_… what was it and why did it seem like he should know about it?

"This is hard to explain," Rin laughed sheepishly after a couple of minutes, "Wow, um… can I try to come up with a better explanation and meet you some other time?"

Kakashi didn't see the harm in that. She certainly seemed intrigued by the situation. He only had a couple of small missions for this week. It wouldn't be hard to meet again. Maybe he could find a book in his spare time about color or something. The chuunin nodded slowly, "Tomorrow?"

"All right… wanna pick me up from the Academy?" Rin smiled slightly.

Kakashi nodded again, "Sounds good."

"Okay!" Rin bubbled, "Wow, I really can't believe this. This is so cool and weird~!"

Something about those words bugged Kakashi. If Rin was reacting the way she was, what would others say if they knew about this no color thing? "Rin…" he stated before the girl wandered off.

"Yea?"

"Could you not mention this to anyone else?" Kakashi wasn't sure if she could keep her mouth shut. "Please?"

"Sure," she replied, "It's gotta be really strange not knowing what color is."

Kakashi simply nodded again, "Thank you."

"I better get home now. See you tomorrow Kakashi~!" Rin laughed and ran off.

Kakashi gave a slight wave. He just hoped Rin wouldn't say anything to her friends like Kurenai or _Anko_ of all people. Not until he at least had some understanding of what was going on and could figure out how to handle the others' reactions.

He twirled the tulip in his hand thoughtfully. Life was looking pretty interesting all of a sudden. And pink.


	2. Red

**_Author's Notes: I've gotten questions on the concept here. Thanks for those! :) Now, Kakashi is basically colorblind/cannot see color. He's never paid attention to when people talk about colors or cared to learn/realize he didn't see what others see. It's basically him looking at the world in grayscale- only whites, blacks, and grays. You could even say he "learned" colors based on shades of gray. At least, that's the idea; I hope this helped some of you at least? 3_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. They are Kishimoto's design. I just like to put them in different situations. :)_**

* * *

_Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.  
_**~Rabindranath Tagore**

**Chapter 2- Red**

Kakashi leaned against the stone wall silently. Any time now the students would be let out for the day. Then he could discuss his sudden change in life with Rin. He hoped that she had remembered to think about it.

He hadn't slept at all last night. It was just too interesting to figure out. He had tried a handful of book shops yesterday but none had anything to help him out. Most of the books that store owners had pointed to were for little kids. Boy, the looks he would've gotten had he picked some of those up…

Kakashi watched as a few parents trickled into the schoolyard. The pink was slowly settling on most peoples' skin as they passed by. It seemed everyone had a little of it in them.

The young chuunin waited until he heard laughter and the crunch of multiple feet kicking up gravel before he ducked around the wall and into the yard. Little kids were running up to their parents or staying in tight little groups by the building as they waited for guardians. The older students were dispersing every which way. Some girls in a clump over there, a couple guys were challenging each other over there.

He paused for a moment watching the students all around him. If there was one thing he didn't miss, it was getting out of classes. He never had an adult to pick him up afterward. His father was usually away on missions or at meetings. It was probably one of the reasons that motived him to graduate so early. He didn't want to watch the others laugh and be happy with their guardians when his never showed. Someday if he had a child, Kakashi vowed to always pick him or her up from class. At least, until they were old enough to walk home. It was just a pet peeve of his.

A loud laugh caught his attention to his right. Kakashi knew that laugh. It was unmistakably Anko. Kakashi would have rather not followed the snake girl's trail, but he wasn't sure where else to start looking for Rin.

Sure enough, as Kakashi wound his way through the students, he picked out Anko on the steps. Kurenai and Rin were with her as she tossed a boy to the ground.

"You better watch your step!" Anko spat at the kid.

"Anko he didn't mean to…" Kurenai was chastising the rowdy girl, "Stop it."

"Please Anko!" Rin held onto her friend as Anko tried to advance on the frightened boy.

Kakashi decided to step in. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked up to the struggling duo, "What is going on here?"

Anko paused for a moment out of sheer fright of being caught by an instructor. When her eyes landed on Kakashi, however, her fear melted into anger. "He ran into Kurenai!" the snake girl growled as she gestured toward the unfortunate kid.

"I apologized!" the kid wailed.

Kakashi pondered over this for a moment. He met Anko's gaze with a cool look, "And that gives you a reason to bully him? If he's apologized then there is no reason to continue this." He looked at the younger student and nodded at him, "You can go now."

The boy turned on his heels and ran without a glance back. Anko grumbled under her breath before marching off in her own direction, "Stupid chuunins thinking they're all that!"

"I'm sorry about that," Rin spoke up. She averted her eyes as Kakashi looked at her, "She just… hasn't been acting right lately."

"Not acting right is an understatement," Kurenai commented.

Kakashi's gaze lingered on Kurenai, "Really?" Her eyes were definitely that weird pink thing. He wondered how many others had eyes like that. What was he missing out on?

"I blame that creepy old snake!" Rin exclaimed as she stomped a foot.

"You think Orochimaru has something to do with it?" Kakashi asked returning his thoughts to the topic at hand.

"Yes!" Rin replied looking exasperated, "She acts all weird and stuff after hanging around his place. I can't even imagine what could be happening!"

"I'm sure she is fine," Kakashi stated. He really didn't want to get into how messed up Orochimaru probably was and how Anko's obsessive need to be around him was most likely unhealthy.

Rin let out a long sigh as she slowly calmed down. It took her a few moments before realizing why exactly Kakashi was there in the first place. "Oh!" she gasped, "Right! The meeting!"

Kurenai raised a slender eyebrow at her, "Meeting?"

"I uh... asked Kakashi to teach me some kunai tricks," Rin sheepishly laughed off Kurenai's scrutinizing stare.

Kakashi was impressed. Rin seemed to know what to say at the right time, because Kurenai shrugged it off. "Well, all right," the pink eyed woman replied, "Dunno how much you'll learn from this lazy oaf."

"Kurenai," Kakashi stated sarcastically, "You sting me with your harsh words."

"Better to sting than to kill, right?" she responded.

Kakashi looked Rin in the eye, "If you hear of my death tomorrow, you know who to blame."

An awkward silence fell over them. He could tell Rin wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. Kakashi shifted weight to his right leg. He was about to say something when Rin broke the silence with a giggle. The slight tension that had built dissipated. The trio laughed together in the near empty schoolyard.

"Mm, I better get home," Kurenai said wiping a tear from her eye, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Kakashi wondered just what Kurenai meant by that every time she said it. He was a gentleman. Sort of. He would protect Rin if needed and wasn't planning on going anywhere or doing anything bad. Rin said goodbye to her friend and then turned to Kakashi coyly, "Wanna stay here or head somewhere else?"

"You said I was going to teach you some kunai techniques," Kakashi shrugged. "We might as well head toward some training grounds."

Rin nodded and picked up a bag sitting near the wall. Kakashi led the way to one of his favorite training grounds. Heck, he might as well plan on teaching her something if she was going to teach him about color.

* * *

"So let me get this straight…" Kakashi drawled as he laid back in the tall grass around him, "It's something of visual perception caused by light… and there's a lot of them."

Rin was perched on a large tree root close by with a book in her lap, "That's probably the easiest way to explain it… it's really hard to explain when you can't see what I mean."

"And they can be lighter or darker depending on the light? You said hues and shades or something?" Kakashi was repeating a lot of what Rin had said just to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Mhm," Rin hummed. She reached for her bag and pulled out a thick piece of folded paper. Kakashi took his eyes off the tree branches above him to look at her. "Here," she said handing the paper over, "It's a color chart."

Kakashi took the paper with contained enthusiasm. He unfolded the sheet and took a long look at it. All he saw was a bunch of wedges outlined in—what had Rin said was the darkest color? Black? The paper was the brightest color Rin had mentioned. White. Black and White and whatever in between. They were the beginning and end colors. One was all of them mixed together while the other was void of any. Simple enough?

One wedge caught Kakashi's eye on the top left. He pointed at it, "This is pink."

"Actually, that is red," Rin corrected him. Kakashi threw her a frustrated look and she continued hurriedly, "Pink is a shade of red. It happens when you mix white and red together. Makes the red lighter and stuff."

"Okay…" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows as he studied the supposed color chart, "All the others look the same."

"Hmm," Rin seemed to ponder this for a moment. "I think…" she started and then stopped. She was searching for words again, "I'm thinking… since red is considered one of the most intense colors… that might be why you're seeing it first."

"But I'm seeing _pink, _not red," Kakashi shot back.

"Well, what I mean is… it's like it's slowly fading in and getting stronger?" Rin responded.

Getting stronger? Kakashi couldn't argue with that. He certainly was seeing more pink everywhere the more time passed.

"Maybe the colors are there," Rin stated as she tried to formulate her thoughts, "and you just need to… jump your mind into recognizing them?"

"That sounds like work," Kakashi let the idea crash and burn. Maybe it was true, but he didn't know the first thing about trying to make his brain or senses recognize something he'd never seen before.

Rin shut her book and smacked him lightly with it. Kakashi looked at her again, "Was that supposed to hurt?"

His question was ignored as Rin stuck the book in her bag, "I think it would be good if you give it some time and maybe the colors will just start appearing. We can keep track of what you can and can't see and kind of go from there. Get an idea of what's going on." Kakashi started to hand the chart to her but Rin shoved it back, "Keep that. We'll use it as a reference."

"We?" Kakashi joked. He didn't know when this had turned into a team effort, but he was glad Rin was willing to stick around and explain the unexplainable.

"Yes, _we_," Rin replied indignantly. "You dragged me into this and it's too interesting to just walk away from."

Kakashi half smiled. They would see how long that interest would last.

* * *

A clatter filled the small kitchen as Kakashi tossed his bowl into the sink. He dashed to his bedroom and grabbed his gear. As casual and cool as he always appeared, he was frantic inside whenever he was late for something. And… well, he was _always_ late for something. It didn't matter what he tried, he would somehow always miss the alarm or get distracted by other menial things.

Today wasn't the worst thing to forget on his list, but it was still important. He had promised to help his best friend Obito with some training. The Uchiha would be graduating in the next month and Kakashi was being put through the wringer with making sure his friend was prepared.

It wasn't like Obito really needed it. The Uchiha just had a knack for overcomplicating things and panicking about stuff that shouldn't be worried over. He would do fine; Kakashi knew this and he was sure Obito did too. It was just that the kid was so stubborn sometimes…

"I'm leaving!" Kakashi called over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

His father was home for once, but to Kakashi, this time around didn't seem like anything had changed. He had learned that the last mission his father had been on a week ago had ended terribly. They hadn't met any objectives before the whole team was at risk. The White Fang had done everything in his power to save his teammates… but that had led to a horrible mission failure. The village was still reeling from the aftereffects.

Kakashi sighed when he didn't receive an answer and continued out the door. His father had saved lives hadn't he? Shouldn't he be proud of that despite having the failure hung over his head? Kakashi wasn't sure what was better. Had the mission been so important that every last man should have given their life for it? Where would that have left the families that were left behind? It didn't make sense for the village to judge a man for a split second decision.

It may have been a small annoyance, but his father had not left his room all week. On the days that Kakashi dared to venture in, his father had sat and stared out the window with such a blank expression when he had set a tray of food in front of him or offered to do something. It bothered him to see the man he looked up to so downcast and rejected.

"Hey Kakashi!" the chuunin heard his name before he saw the bouncing Uchiha.

Obito caught up and fell into perfect stride next to Kakashi.

"Hey," Kakashi responded, half paying attention.

"Looks like we're both late today huh?" Obito laughed as they jogged to their usual training area.

"That means 10 laps around the village," Kakashi smirked.

They had made a deal that if Obito was ever late to practice that he would have to run around the entire village. Kakashi rarely held him to it though, because of the fact that he himself was always late. So how could he ever say Obito was late when he couldn't even be on time?

"Ah c'mon, we're both on time then!" Obito tried to reason with him.

"Hm," Kakashi pretended to think over the idea, but he knew Obito knew that he didn't really care about the running. It would waste the time they used for practice. "All right," he finally breathed making the Uchiha cheer, "but only because we're so late."

"Awesome," Obito grinned.

The two boys arrived at the grounds just as Minato and Kushina were leaving. Kakashi paused as Minato turned to look at him. Kakashi's eyes weren't on the male jounin, but rather the woman next to him. Kushina's hair was a darker wave of pink than he'd ever seen.

"How is your father, Kakashi?" Minato asked as Kushina stopped a few feet away and looked back.

"He's…" Kakashi averted his eyes from Kushina, "down. I guess."

"Not ready to come back yet?" Minato asked as he contemplated the situation, "I'll have to stop by later today and talk with him."

Kakashi nodded, "Feel free to stop any time." Minato was a good man. Maybe he was the person needed to get his father out of his slump.

"C'mon Kakashi!" Obito called, ending the conversation there, "I don't have all day ya know!"

Kakashi took his leave from the older shinobi and walked over to where Obito was waiting. "If you're so eager to begin, then start with the kunai throws I showed you."

Obito happily obeyed pulling out his weapons and taking his stance in front of the targets set up around the area.

Kakashi dumped his stuff on the ground and watched. Obito twisted and threw a kunai with pretty good aim. Kakashi didn't understand why he was so adamant about learning already. He had all the basics down to graduate. Maybe he wanted to get ahead just in case? That didn't sound like Obito's style.

His mind wandered as Obito switched hands and fired away at the targets, this time a little less accurately. Had the fall out between his father and the village been _so bad _that Minato was concerned for Konoha's White Fang? Kakashi didn't think it had been.

But now that he looked back on it… His father hadn't left his room in days and Kakashi had had to practically force him to eat. Something wasn't adding up.

The village really couldn't blame his father forever; his father couldn't blame himself either. It was a failed mission and they could pick up the pieces. There didn't need to be a blame game between anyone as far as he could tell.

Kakashi briefly instructed Obito to move on to another exercise. As time passed, Kakashi became more apprehensive as he pondered over the limited information he had. His father obviously was ashamed that he had acted in the way he did. Wasn't that enough for the village?

A cold chill crept down his spine as he considered a sudden possibility. Would the village try to get rid of his father? That made Kakashi nervous.

"Hey, Kakashi," Obito's voice cut into his thoughts. Kakashi looked up at the other boy. "You okay?" Obito asked.

Kakashi wanted to answer him, wanted to assure him everything was fine. But he couldn't do it. His stomach dropped and something felt wrong. Horribly wrong.

"Kakashi?" Obito tried again as the chuunin got up.

He had to go home. He had to make sure everything was all right.

"Something doesn't feel right," he finally answered the Uchiha. Before Obito could respond, Kakashi continued, "I need to go home."

Obito was silent as Kakashi gathered his things. He really didn't know _what_ was driving him to return home he just knew that he _needed_ to.

As he turned to leave, Obito caught his shoulder briefly with a hand, "Kakashi… I'm always here if ya need someone. Got it?"

Kakashi simply nodded and took off. He shouldn't have had to worry. So why was he worrying?

The buildings blurred by as he ran. He was just going to check in and then he'd be right back out laughing at his own silliness. It would be an absurd act of anxiety and he could go on like it never happened.

Suddenly, footsteps fell into place beside him. Kakashi glanced over and found Minato in step with him. The older shinobi looked concerned, "Kakashi? Where's the fire? You don't look good."

When Kakashi looked back on that day in the future, he was glad that Minato had been the one at his side. Anyone else would have simply looked the other way.

"Weren't you with Kushina?" Kakashi asked between breaths.

"I walked her home and was on my way to your house," Minato replied, "Then I saw you flying like a bat out of hell."

Kakashi momentarily wondered just how upset he appeared to others right now. It couldn't have been _that _bad.

They stopped outside on the street. Kakashi panted slightly as he climbed the steps and reached for the doorknob. It unexpectedly stuck. Kakashi tried it again.

Locked. Kakashi never locked the door when his father was home. Had his father finally left the house? That would be a great relief.

Kakashi fumbled for his house key and stuck it in the lock. It clicked and he opened the door on a dark hallway. He went inside without a second thought. Minato flipped the light on behind him as he went straight to his father's room.

"Father?" Kakashi asked, knocking softly on the white door. When he didn't receive a reply, he cracked the door and slowly ventured in, "Father?"

Kakashi stopped dead. The sight in front of him was the last thing he had expected to find. His father had left his place by the window, but hadn't gotten very far. Konoha's White Fang was lying on the floor with his back to the door. A bright ring of something was around him, soaking through his clothing.

Kakashi moved forward automatically. He couldn't feel his feet anymore and his mind went numb. What happened here? And why was that strangeness there?

The chuunin fell to his knees by his father. His hands trembled as he reached out to touch his father's shoulder. Was this a joke? Kakashi dimly heard Minato's footsteps in the doorway as he touched the wet clothing. He drew his hand back as the sticky substance stained his fingers.

Blood?

Kakashi's mind reeled as Minato's arms were suddenly pulling him up and away from his father. A scream filled the room. Who was screaming? It took a few moments for Kakashi to process that _he_ was the one screaming.

The blood on his hand. His mind connected it almost subconsciously. Blood. Red. The vivid color hurt his eyes.

_Red._

Kakashi let himself be dragged from the room. He couldn't hear what Minato was saying. He couldn't process the panicked words around him. Everything fell into a dark oblivion around him as the world whirled by.

Sakumo Hatake.

Konoha's legendary White Fang.

_Was dead._


End file.
